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This was too big to add to the pinned Colette thread, apparently, so here's a new post. Mods, if there's a way to add this to the thread, please let me know.
Places everyone! I've often heard people describe everyone's favorite Showgirl--as people describe many strong women--as complicated. In Malifaux, as in life, it can be daunting to approach such a confident lady. What are her interests? What friends does she enjoy spending time with? What should you do with your hand? (Hold on to every for starters.)
Basic mindset for me has always been: My crew is practicing/performing a show. The opponents are being a horrible audience. Get off my stage!
The Star - Colette, Prompt…and So Much More:
Without trying to spell out everything on her card, since I know you all can read, here are the important points.
- Defense - You've heard it before, Colette is "Impossible to kill!" Which *can* be true. Her two Df/Wp triggers are nigh-legendary. Just make sure you have a accessible (Artificial Soulstone is your friend!) and a friendly scheme marker 1" away. Even low s are great, since it goes off when she suffers damage and *poof* she'd 6" away, hopefully next to another scheme marker, you only wounded a smoky shadow.
Her trigger is less often used, despite being built in on Df, but because of that I find people often forget about it towards the end of the game. If she's killed, a nearby friendly steps out of their costume and--Wow! It was Colette all along!
-Things to watch for - Attacks that cannot be prevented, since that's how her trigger is ignoring the damage. There's more of these coming out lately, Zipp is probably the most notable. The trigger won't care, as it heals her depending on the sacrificed friendly's wounds, but still for both triggers you'll need to watch out for things that turn off/ignore the trigger, notably Joss's axe, Executioner claws, and s.
- Support Shenanigans - Let's get it out of the way; Prompt is great. It's the obvious bread & butter of her actions. 3" push and a (1) action on a friendly in 10". Makes picking up heads easy like coloring inside the lines, extra attacks on your more kill-y models (only once per model per turn after her errata. I think it's an improvement, honestly), and a quick push out and interact for your scheme-y models. When you start with Colette you'll do this a lot. I encourage you, as you progress, to look beyond this to other actions.
Using Disappearing Act to pop Colette into an area with many scheme markers to boost her Hooked Cane to a Ml8, followed by her (0) Saber Trick can be surprising--it's not going to kill anything big, but it will shut down a charge lane for a turn, and Colette will have plenty of scheme markers around if they want to hit back. Or pop a few of your models up the board much further and quicker than your opponent can. Bypass them, or beat them to the objectives. Squatter's Rights, anyone?
For non-actions, remember every friendly Minion and Showgirl (including her) gets a (0) interact while within her 8" . Scheme Markers *everywhere*. Or any condition based Interacting schemes. Go nuts!
And finally, her artificial Soulstone. Remember it, use it, love it. Starting out, I recommend using it as her first soulstone in the turn, no matter what for, so you get in the habit. Later, I might hold on to it if you expect her to be attacked a bunch and you don't have the s in hand. Even if you don't use it then, it probably deterred at least one attack.
A Magician's Props Are Her Best Friends - Upgrades:
4 exclusive upgrades and the vast cornucopia of Arcanist goodies. Only 3 upgrade slots. What's a Showgirl to do?
- Cabaret Choreography - I pick this one up when I pick up Colette's card. Every. Time. And that was before I realized Union Miners made All Together Now so simple it was ridiculous. Summoning doves with the other action on this upgrade is worth the 2ss by itself. Being scheme markers for your crew (for non-scoring purposes) means she can Disappearing Act and pop out a defensive scheme-dove if there aren't more around. Doves and Practiced Production is how you get those markers up the board in the first place if you don't want to kill the dove in the teleportation process. Above all, Colette likes bringing the best Arcanists have to offer to her show, meaning she usually likes a few cheap activations to pad out the crew. Or she can summon more in, and they can buff her crew! When starting, I would often hire one dove to give Colette +Ca flips on her turn in case I didn't have the cards in hand to summon more doves. Not always the case now, but it's still nice to have the option.
- A Lady's Secret - I can see how this upgrade should work wonders in my head. I have yet to unlock it's full potential. It's designed to power up Disappearing Act by making the scheme marker/dove reusable. So redeploy a clump of your crew around Colette much further up the board. And it lets her use her Saber Trick a second time when she arrives at the end of the teleport. Again, not going to kill a ton, but an extra hit is one closer to the thousand cuts that will kill. I'll take this one when I have the stones and I want to be super mobile.
- Shell Game - I tried it early, didn't really get much out of it, though I know some people swear by the Surge trigger on Prompt. Try it and let me know what you think.
- Nothing Up My Sleeve - Seems really good on paper, but that's 1 of Colette's AP every time you want to use it. Personally, I'd rather take Arcane Reservoir.
- Arcane Reservoir - Take it. Seeing more cards is good. Plus, makes up for the card your going to drop for Cassandra's Southern Hospitality every turn.
- Practiced Production - I always take it, for pretty much infinite reasons. But I never take it on Colette. It goes one Cassandra. Or, occasionally, Carlos. I'm still trying him out.
Auditions - Crew Composition:
The girls of the Star Theater know their craft well, but there are many parts to be played in any show.
- Cassandra - She's 8ss of amazing. Plus upgrades. I've never taken Colette without Cassandra and been pleased with the result. On the other end of the spectrum, I'm had plenty of games end in victory with only Colette and Cassandra left on the table. Put Practiced Production on her, plan to activate her first almost every turn, and go to town. For a second upgrade I tend to like Recharge Soulstone so long as I expect living targets, otherwise Imbued Energies is never a bad choice, or Imbued Protection if you want her to be even more ridiculous to remove.
- Carlos - I would seriously take him just for the immense satisfaction I get for outrageously saying the names of his abilities. Luckily, no one has to, because he's quite good. Above all, he holds points and tanks like a champ - something the Showgirls were in need of, and thankful to get. His healing upgrade is free in a Colette crew (though with the wording it still counts for show of force). For a second upgrade I take a Union Minor, but we'll touch on that in a bit. Basically get him where you want him, engage a bunch of enemies with his 3" Ml range, and punch them with fire.
- Joss - Does what he says on the tin. Chops enemies up and ignores just about every defensive tech. That said, I tend not to bring him if I think I'll be facing any Obeys, since he cuts through Colette's defenses too.
- Arcane Emissary - Only tried him once, but he packs a punch and counts as a scheme marker for showgirl purposes with Colette's Conflux. I'd probably suggest bringing a Silent One to sit behind him for healing purposes, but he's a decent beater. May be the key to unlocking a more teleport-focused Colette, but I need more experimentation time.
- Angelica - She's great at pushing things and carrying Practiced Production for cheap. Which the Showgirls already do. Take her, but in different Masters' crews.
- Oxfordian Mages - Their main weakness is slow movement, which Colette can take care of easily. Take all three with wards and Temporary Shielding, put Warding Runes on Cassandra and Carlos/Joss if you bring a second henchman, and sling some serious magic. Great for facing Ressers, since the Runes shut down Lures and you have plenty of furious casting.
- Coryphee/Duet - They're surprisingly resilient for the few wounds they have, and Colette can make them have a truly silly turn ending in merging into the Duet, which can generally take care of itself. I usually aim for early turn two. Word of warning, keep them away from everything that ignores armor.
- December Acolyte - Ignores Horror. Solid range, above solid damage, auto-slow, auto-opponent discard trigger. And you can Prompt them. Need I say more?
- Silent One - Ignores Horror. Can shoot through the Acolyte. Can heal in a pinch. Most importantly, casts, with , with no . We'll cover her a bit more below.
- Union Miner - Most obvious too charge Carlos up, but I'll bring one even without Carlos because of his False Claim ability.
- Performer - Don't mistake her place this low on the list for a lack of use. I do find I bring one of these girls more often than not, and not just in Colette crews. Don't Mind Me is fantastic, and there is much to be said for the ability to remove enemy scheme markers at range -- and *then* it causes enemies nearby to take a test or gain negative flips to wp/df for the turn. They pair well with a mannequin.
- Mannequin - I take one as a mini tank to follow around the Showgirls, let them throw scheme markers at range, and do a bit of damage/slow when the opportunity arises.
- Arcane Effigy - Full disclosure, this lil' guy's actually my favorite 4ss model in the faction in general. Nigh-impossible to take out in less than 3 hits, walks faster than most of the faction, and removes conditions. I'd take two if I could. Learn Your Lines! - "Macros"
A few of my go-to cascades of actions with Colette. May they serve you well.
- The Show Must Go On - Last minute before the curtain rises and the crowd's getting restless, better get into position, fast! Most easily used turn 1, Union Miner takes his (0) Interact from Colette to place a scheme marker, then uses his False Claim to place 2 more markers within 3" of him. They aren't placed via Interact, so they don't care how close they are to other models. Important thing is to get them each within 1" of another friendly model (could be Colette, but that one would only be for defensive tricks). Then do it again, or walk to where it would be close to a point useful to do it again. Since it's early in the game, it's ok if Colette goes early, but I still suggest moving up anyone not near a marker, then placing one of their own. Ultimately your goal is to have Colette use her (2) All Together Now on Cabaret Choreography to make everybody else near a scheme marker take a (1). It's in the order of your choosing, so the Union Miner can either walk or False Claim again if there are more models who would benefit from a marker. Generally this is just going to be a walk action, but that's still getting a boatload of AP for the price of 2, the Union Miner just makes this super simple. The trick is doing the different actions in the right order when it's more than just walks.
- The Perfect Double Act - Why spend Colette's AP walking when she teleports further without using any? Turn one, before Colette goes, get a scheme marker near her before Cassandra activates. Or even when Cassandra activates. All she needs to do is attack Colette once that marker's in place. All Colette needs is a low card (preferably a , but use the fake soulstone if you have to) to make sure Cassandra's attack goes through with whichever trigger you'd like…and not black joker the damage. Note: Colette cannot relent this, she needs to be able to declare her Df trigger. So in a crowd-pleasing opening number, Cassandra appears to stab Colette (unable to declare triggers of her own, as they're both after damaging and Colette triggers first as defending model) and then, in a puff of smoke, Colette appears 6" from where she fell bloodied, but no more!
And, if you have Cassandra use her Nimble to catch up, have another marker waiting, and another low for Colette, Cassandra should be in range to do it again! (I'd be careful with that though, it can become easy to over-extend).
- Cassandra's Cold Steel - I've had games where I get this off to good effect a few times, but once is the norm, and it takes some resources in either good s/s, or a few soulstones. Take your Silent One, put her within 8" of where Cassandra will be attacking. When Cassandra attacks, get her understudy trigger. After damaging, take the Silent One's Freeze attack, and get a second to do it again. Three key points: nowhere in the Understudy trigger does it say the action taken needs to target the same target as Cassandra's original attack, Freeze is a cast without a close or projectile symbol so it can shoot into or out of engagement, and it's trigger doesn't say who the second shot needs to target either. And she'll have her second attack afterwards to push away. So, your choice if she hits the same target 4 times, or spreads it out a bit. I find concentrating the shots helps best, usually, but there are times. For best results, pop a dove to buff her damage flips and chain activate into Cassandra.
- Puppet Shuffle - Probably the most infamous one. This can work in turn 1 in a game where everybody's going for the center, otherwise, I play a little tighter and aim for turn 2. Both Coryphee move up, drop (0) markers and move again (or charge for turn 2, pushing out with their 2nd attack). I like to end them 4-5" away from a threat since they can't be charged. You're going to Prompt both of them, the push will get them into range to attack. One of those Prompts you want a ram for the reactivate trigger. That Coryphee second activation will, if the two of them are close, be an attack with the built in push, then Dance Together. If they're far, you won't be doing this without the 4 of s for their teleport action to get to the other Coryphee, and end with Dance Together. Either way, you end up with the Duet (which won't sacrifice at end of turn from the reactive since it's a new model) which still has 2 of its normal 3 AP from being slow, and should be in a good position to finish off whatever one of the previous Coryphee started on. It's great activation control, getting 4 activations (10 AP with the Prompt factored in) for the price of 2 that turn, and the Duet is much more survivable for the rest of the game.
- Carlos' Sucker Punch - So normally, it's nice to hit Carols with the Union Miner's welder, then unload all the burning in Carlos' first punch, gain a burning back with the second punch. After that, Carlos then proceeds to hold the line and tank for the turn. With Colette, you can Prompt the Union Miner to burn Carlos again, then Prompt Carlos to fire-punch a second time. Downside is there's not an easy way to get his burning back up for armor/healing, but not much will survive two min damage 5 flaming fists, and if he has no burning you don't need to discard at the end of the turn to heal him/keep him from taking fire damage.
- The Ol' Switcheroo - Less a macro and more a neat trick. Leave Colette away from a scheme marker but within 8" of a Performer, preferably close to something big and scary of theirs. Like I said, a lot of people, mid to late game, have seen her trigger enough that they forget about her trigger. They kill Colette. But then she steps out from behind the Performer costume, letting it fall. Colette gets healed, and reactivate because the Performer dies. The audience reacts with thunderous applause.
- The Big Finish - So you took Undercover Entourage on Colette, because of course you did. She may even be your last model on the table, your opponent still wondering what your second scheme was, guessing you're stuck and they just have to wait out the turn. Then the spotlight swings to Colette and the music swells. She summons a dove, Prompts it a total of 13" away, and *poof* Colette disappears from her bonds, dodging the guillotine and reappearing in the upper balcony to take her bow. So long as Colette was within ~14" of the opposing deployment zone, you most likely just got 3 points.
I hope you all find this helpful in your fledgling forays onto the stage, I certainly had fun writing it up. What are your favorite combos/macros with Colette?
<MOD HAT> This is becoming the new Pinned Colette post. The old pinned thread can be found here
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